Like so many other firefighters, Stephen Baistow, deputy captain of the Wagga Wagga Fire & Rescue Unit, had his work cut out in the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, when he was on three task forces that fought in three serious engagements in the state’s north. He was used to it. He had been the Red October bushfires in the southern highlands in 2013.

 

In his 45 years as a firefighter, Stephen has seen just about everything, including the incidents he has attended as a Hazmat (Hazardous Materials) Firefighter. At Jemalong in the state’s central west, in June 2015, a 100,000-litre tank started leaking sodium. Only shovels with soda ash could be used to clean it up, as water would have triggered a massive explosion. He has also looked further afield, focusing on matters such as cultural diversity in the service and more use of females. He has also developed a passion for fire service history and -has been a long-standing member of the Historic Fire Engine Association. The engine keeper at Wagga Wagga fire station for 12 years, he has given 34 years of service to the Museum of Fire at Penrith and at least twice a year contributes to open events at the museum.

 

The job of being a station commander in the country where your staff are on-call/retained firefighters, all with regular jobs and with varying personalities, attitudes and priorities, has its challenges.

 

David Welch, with more than 12 years’ experience, now station officer at Gunnedah with 22 such staff, carries it off well, ensuring the station is always at functional capacity. He volunteers his time as a Peer Support Officer for the northern NSW Fire & Rescue Zone, often doing follow-up phone calls and driving to other stations after significant incidents to do follow ups with crews and individuals. He has made an outreach to the community, championing home fire checks on homes and businesses and attending schools and work places to pass on the fire safety message, all this making in a trusted figure in the Local Emergency Management Committee.

 

For his service in the Black Summer Bushfires of 2019/20, David received the Emergency Services Medal. The Lismore floods in 2017 and last year, deeply affected because of the plight of the victims. He took time between deployments to meet with local sand officer his experience in peer support. His empathy for those affected was reported by other agencies such as SES and RFS.

 

There was little doubt Phillip Causley would end up in a helping profession. From his last years in high school he was out helping, first with Kidz Kamp for the St Vincent de Paul Society, then the NSWSES, followed by service with the Westpac Helicopter and the Ballina Hospital Auxiliary.

 

In 2011 he joined Marine Rescue Ballina and has held the positions of crew, leading crew, coxswain and Deputy Unit Commander, Trainer and Assessor. He has also assisted other Units in his region in training and assessing. In June 2020 his skills were put to the test in the early morning hours when a vessel sank off Patch’s Beach in South Ballina. Phil went out with crew, battling a treacherous bar and ferocious seas, to rescue two people in the water, with a Westpac helicopter lighting up the bar for them.

 

During the 2022 floods, Phil spent three days in Lismore rescuing flood victims. Notwithstanding his own home in Ballina being flooded, he went on assist others for the next five days. When floods hit the far west in November that year, he went to Walgett to assist in evacuations, assisting small indigenous settlements, and restocking supplies. He then went on to assist at Condobolin to repair and stabilise flood levies during the MRNSW wider flood assistance efforts.

 

No emergency service, especially one that relies on volunteers to rescue people at sea, can do without funding, and in Leona Curran, Marine Rescue NSW operating at Jervis Bay is on a winner. In her nine years with Marine Rescue Jervis Bay, Leona has contributed to the Units fundraising to the tune of $500,000. Classified as Grants and Fundraising Officer, she has organised grants and coordinated fundraising activities including, including Bunnings barbecues, Huskisson Monthly Markets and raffles.

 

One of the most significant activities would be the Marine Rescue Jervis Bay Duck Derby, held each year on Australia Day. To strengthen engagement with the local Aboriginal community, Gadhungal Murring were invited by Leona to perform a “Welcome to Country” smoking ceremony on the day. Leona received a $10,000 grant for Gadhungal Murring to participate in 2022 and did so again this year.

 

It was through Leona’s skill in securing grants for the Duck Derby that made it possible for Marine Rescue Jervis Bay to reach out to the media and the last two events shattered all records by raising $40,000. In 2002, Leona submitted photographs in a competition hosted by the National Australia Day Council and was awarded second place, securing another $2,000 for the Jervis Bay unit.

 

Edwin Stewart Dietrich, retiring from service with the Royal Australian Navy, did not have to look far to find an organisation ready to snap up his skills, and that was Marine Rescue NSW. Edwin gained numerous qualifications and soon found that being a volunteer with Marine Rescue NSW provided opportunities beyond the water.

 

Based at Merimbula, he trained other members of Marine Rescue NSW in navigation and boat handling, took executive positions, raised funds, monitored the marine radio network and participated in sea rescues. When the 2019-20 bushfires threatened Merimbula, he worked tirelessly at evacuation centres, giving help and comfort. After the fires passed, he went back to the evacuation centres to help with the clean-up and return to business.

 

For his services during the 2019-20 bushfires, he was awarded the New South Wales Premier's Bushfire Emergency Citation. In 2021, during serious flooding in Sydney, he was seconded to the SES Incident Control Centre at Bankstown, representing Marine Rescue NSW, drawing on his seamanship skills. In 2022, he deployed to the Riverina to assist with flood response. Skippering various vessels, and drawing on his extensive naval experience, he did on-water rescues, assisted isolated people and their livestock, did sandbagging and helped move feed to stranded animals.

 

Johnathan Wilcock could not keep away from the water and he could not keep away from rescuing people. Starting as a sailor in Victoria at the age of seven, he went on to competitive sailing and supporting boat operators. In his late teens he joined the SES to help with rescues in road accidents, swift water emergencies and floods. Moving to the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, he joined Marine Rescue Brunswick, took a place in the executive and became Unit Commander. He is also the Units Training Officer and Emergency Liaison Officer.

 

The 2022 floods, which were severe in the state’s north, brought out the best in Jonathan. Working with the NSW SES, NSW Police and Surf Lifesaving volunteers, he assisted with rescues and at one point had to extract a severely ill person trapped in a flooded house. With neither the ambulance or helicopter able to get access, he borrowed a vehicle with a snorkel fitted, allowing it go into deeper water, and got the patient out.

 

He worked especially hard with the Mullumbimby SES, assisting people affected by the flooding in the Mullumbimby and Upper Brunswick Valleys, delivering fuel, food and other necessities. He helped in the Emergency Operations Centre and when the waters receded was active in the clean-up and coordinating assistance to those in the community who need it.

 

In the surf lifesaving movement, steeped in male dominance, Morgan Clarke has been a trailblazer. Over 12 years, with more than 600 hours of frontline patrolling logged, she has led by example in achievement, participation and mentorship of young female members and athletes. She is the Youth Program Coordinator for Surf Lifesaving NSW (SLSNSW) and is one of the first ever female duty officers in SLSNSW’s Illawarra Branch.

 

Her passionate involvement, and example, is helping to arrest a downward trend in volunteer numbers. Captaining Woonona Surf Life Saving Club, she has taken on many other duties, including radio, first-aid and administration, which are typically shared in bigger clubs. More broadly, Morgan represents the organisation in local and state Search and Rescue Exercises where she has collaborated with services such as Marine Rescue and Water Police. She takes the frontline readily, patrolling for not one, but two clubs and frequently contributes to their after-hours emergency responses.

 

In the last year alone, she was involved in several major after-hours rescues on Wollongong City Beach. This season, Morgan was the Illawarra Team Manager organising the representative team for the NSW Championships. With the team needing another competitor, she herself stepped up to race the state’s best and placed third!

 

Bradley Dawson has been patrolling for SLSNSW for 12 years and has completed 1744 volunteer patrol hours. During this time Bradley has completed duties as a South Coast and Central Coast Duty Officer, being one of SLSNSW's youngest duty officer at the time of his appointment at the age of 21.

 

Bradley also played a major role in the SLSNSW response to the black summer bushfires being awarded the Premiers Bushfire Citation. Bradley has spent further time volunteering within the Marine Area Commands Search and Rescue Operations as a liaison officer working alongside the NSW Police and Marine Rescue. Bradley has used his experiences with incident and emergency management, response and coordination into his professional development working as a paid council lifeguard, retained firefighter for Fire + Rescue NSW and a Constable for the NSW Police Force.

 

With 29 years’ experience as a surf lifeguard, Glen Dunkley’s experience can hardly be passed up when it comes to dealing with major incidents. Now a duty officer for Surf Lifesaving NSW and based in the Hunter/Port Stephens region, he is able to assist patrol captains in coordination of major incidents, and coordinating with other emergency services and the media. He has had particular responsibility for the Hunter Surf Lifesaving, the Fingal Beach SLSC and the Patrol of the Nelson Bay Tennis Club.

 

On three separate occasions in the last 12 months, he has been at the State Emergency Service headquarters in Metford, suburban Maitland, to be Surf Lifesaving Incident Controller, staying for three weeks at a time. Liaising with the SES State Communications team, he has assisted volunteers on the ground with their duties, ensuring they have been briefed and fully prepared. He understands volunteers, logistics, availabilities and restrictions. His ability to handle difficult incidents and look after less-experienced members through his command decisions has been appreciated by many clubs and emergency members coping with the recent flood disaster. He has been able to develop the relationship with other emergency services across the board for the surf lifesaving community.

 

It did not take Kieran Menzies long to take to the water in the serv ice of others. He was patrolling on Sydney’s northern beaches at the age of 13 when he gained his Surf Rescue Certificate. He went on to complete his Bronze Medallion, Advanced Resuscitation Certificate, IRB crew and IRB drivers awards and has taken on numerous roles, including Patrol Captain.

 

He has organised surf sporting events and since the age of 18 he has facilitated branch run courses of Silver Medallion Beach Management and jet ski operations. He is one of only two Jet ski facilitators within the Sydney Northern Beaches.

 

Over the last 15 years Kieran, based at Newport, has been involved in multiple critical incidents, which have included resuscitations and mass rescues. Through all this, he has shown leadership and an instinct for team work. He has been involved in after-hours emergency callouts and has been the After-Hours Duty Officer for the last 10 years, when he has often been the only duty officer available, giving directions to members form numerous other clubs. In the 2019/20 bushfires, he was asked to go to Jervis Bay to assist with the Emergency Response team and to support the local community. 

 

Katherine Dunlop, an ambulance officer in Wahroonga, often goes well beyond her duties as a paramedic and acting station officer by looking at the situation the patient is in. If that person has obvious disadvantages, she might organise further social support, cook a quick meal and even clean parts of the person’s home.

 

Katherine calls for care to ensure that her patients receive the highest and most appropriate level of care possible. She carries that care and concern over to some 25 staff working for her, being readily approachable encouraging individuals to do further courses and upskill. Having her spare time taken up by other activities such as with the Galston brigade of the Rural fire Service, Katherine sometimes goes into the ambulance station on her days off to ensure that tasks are complete.

 

A kind and generous individual, it is said, who always puts the needs of others before herself. In the RFS, Katherine runs a program for juniors, and acts as station manager and secretary. She volunteers her time once a month through teaching and encouraging young women to get involved with the RFS, thereby helping to pave the way for continuing involvement of women in that service.

 

Flooding on the north coast of New South Wales has always been a problem, and each time members of the emergency services have risen to the occasion, none more so than Damian Hughes, an ambulance officer for 26 years, now at the top level of the ambulance service’s North Coast Sector, who was himself isolated with his family by two unprecedented waves of flooding for six weeks in 2022.

 

Notwithstanding personal stresses, he thought always of the community and of the welfare of some 550 ambulance personnel called to duty. For the first three days of the flooding, Damian refused to stand down as commander and took pains to ensure that all his personnel who had lost their homes were safe and had found alternative accommodation. Through that period, from late February, Damian led the NSW Ambulance Incident Management Team in a manner consistent with the professionalism, self-sacrifice and dedication he has displayed throughout his career.

 

Damian has spent many nights away from family to be present with staff to address the many demands of their job and when not immediately present has been available round the clock to answer emails. He has played a significant part in the development of young managers and leaders in the ambulance community.

 

Joe completes his daily duties with confidence and professionalism. He is a trusted paramedic who has worked at Berry for 2 years. He performs his daily duties with professionalism, diligence and a smile. Joe has gained the respect of not only his fellow paramedics but the local Berry community.

Joe volunteers his time on behalf of NSW Ambulance as apart of the Sydney World Pride March each year. He represents NSW Ambulance on behalf of the LGBTI community and supports other NSW Ambulance staff who are present at the time.

 

Not only does Joe work with NSW Ambulance, he also volunteers with the local Rural Fire Service and has volunteered with the State Emergency Service. His skills and experience that he has learnt with Ambulance cross over into the Rural Fire Service where he supports other volunteers with his knowledge and leadership capability.

 

Eamonn Purcell, an ambulance officer for 27 years, now inspector of the Riverina and a special operations intensive care paramedic for the NSW Ambulance Service, managing ambulance stations at Wagga Wagga, Coolamon and Junee. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience which could hardly be ignore in difficult rescues. When the Rock Nature Reserve in the Lockhart Shire became a place of danger for people climbing it, getting lost and injured in the process, he worked out a series of contingency plans for paramedics to indicate how they should respond. When the 2019/20 floods hit Parks and Deniliquin, he was called into service there as well.

 

Such was his reputation that when the tsunami hit Japan in 2011, he was called into service there to help find missing people, in particular those still clinging to life, and he helped clean up after the disaster. In addition, Eamonn has undertook voluntary Paramedic work in Papua New Guinea with St John Ambulance with APEC and assisted by deploying to the Earthquake that devastated the Northern provinces in February 2018. 

 

Totally committed to his task of serving the local community, he has been available even on days off and answers phone calls by day and night. Known as “Mr Emergency Management”, he is constantly trying to find new ways to improve things and takes opportunities to allow professional development. Copying is the best form of flattery and many people strive to be las passionate as Eamonn. 

 

 

Communications Captain Michaela Anderson had a fire spread map on 31 December 2019, at the height of the bush fire crisis on the south coast, and saw that if fire broached containment lines, 40 to 50 percent of the townships of Nowra and Bomaderry might be destroyed.

 

Despite that, at 5 am that morning she drove to the RFS Shoalhaven Fire Control Centre in South Nowra for duty. She kept her head, as she had during the entire Currawong Fire, where as a volunteer RFS Communications Officer, she had demonstrated commendable service.

 

The forecast was for catastrophic weather conditions from 21 December, and Michaela was asked to stay on. Having already worked 12 to 18 hour days, she agreed, and found herself supporting, comforting and advising the strike team leader trapped by fire, reminding him of “overrun training” and preparing a check list before the fire hit their tanker.

 

Because of her competence under pressure and having an exceptional memory of the tactical picture, she was allocated more responsibility. Now a salaried member of the RFS, she has reinforced her reputation as a competent and resourceful operator, remaining calm during times of crisis.

 

Captain John Lennox joined the Sandy Point Rural Fire Brigade of the NSW Rural Fire Service in 1991. He has been a member of the RFS for just over 32 years, during which he has held the ranks of deputy captain, senior deputy captain and captain. He is currently Captain of the Georges River Rural Fire Brigade.

 

He was actively involved during the 2019/20 bush fire crisis, particularly with the fires in the Southern Highlands and has otherwise travelled widely. In 2017, he went to assist with fires in South Australia. In 2018, he helped with the Grafton bush fires and in 2020 was sent to the south coast by Transport NSW to assist with road closures. He was redeployed there directly to firefighting, as the need arose.

 

He was also active in fires at Bega and Tathra and when the floods came, he was active in the Georges River area and Camden, and was called to assist in floods at the Liverpool Catholic Club. He has been a remote area firefighter for the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service, requiring him to be winched from a helicopter to suppress remote fires in national parks.

 

 

Firefighter Cameron Lomas joined the NSW RFS at Wamberal in 2012, before he moved to South Australia in 2019 and joined the Country Fire Service. In South Australia, he committed himself to the environment and studied for a degree in environmental science. He volunteered for Parks and Conservation SA and Friends of the Para Wirra Conservation Park, north of Adelaide. He planted trees, tracked and counted wildlife and revived habitats, and made a special study of River Red Gums in the conservation park to provide a baseline for tree health and future conservation measures.

 

In 2022, he moved to the ACT and re-joined the NSW RFS as a member of the Wallaroo Rural Fire Brigade. He has been a uniformed instructor with the Australian Air Force Cadets, helping in the development of leadership skills and self-confidence and has taken the opportunity to teach the cadets about fire behaviour and fire suppression. To that end, he has worked with the Brigade to attend cadet training nights with fire trucks, extinguishers and other equipment. 

He is a keen environmentalist and nature lover, and part of that commitment has been a determination to protect our national assets from the ravages of fire.

 

 

 

Senior Deputy Captain Clint Pressley joined the Copacabana Rural Fire Brigade more than 18 years ago and has risen through the ranks to Captain, gaining an in-depth knowledge of the Brigade and its operations. He has often worked directly with members helping to develop their skills and has offered encouragement to the entire Brigade during difficult times.

 

During the 2019/20 bush fire crisis, as a deputy captain and together with the Captain, they led a crew to Mangrove Mountain on the Central Coast to protect properties and found a fire descending on them rapidly, as a result of difficult terrain and erratic winds. The decision was made to stay and defend a threatened property. The crew worked tirelessly, drawing on all the knowledge of previous years, and saved it. It was one small victory at a time in December 2019 with significant loss of life, and properties destroyed.

 

Employed as a Special Constable with the NSW Police Force, he has demonstrated that he is willing to put in the extra effort to ensure the community’s needs are met. 

 

Hayden Doolan at age 28, became the NSW SES, Northern Rivers Local Commander just one week before the devastating flooding of Northern NSW in 2022, which would go on to be the busiest year in the NSW SES history. He immediately had his work cut out for him. While his own home was flooded, he continued to assist his local community. 

Chief Inspector Doolan has reached out to schools, organisations, Aboriginal Communities to foster and strengthen relationships that were damaged after the COVID pandemic and floods. Hayden has worked hard using his cultural knowledge to gain the trust and respect of the local communities to ensure inclusion and cultural awareness.

 

Hayden has worked hard to recruit new members to join the Northern Rivers NSW SES, arranging and attending community events, standing alongside volunteers to promote the service and promote community resilience. Hayden joined the NSW Rural Fire Service at just 17 and has put his life on the line for ten years, over multiple campaigns, whilst also being the youngest member of the Kyogle Council.

 

Hayden is aware of the pressures placed on emergency service workers and is an advocate for mental health and for resilience. Hayden has reached out to leaders of other emergency services to develop annual training events to ensure all services can learn from each other’s skills and knowledge.

 

 

Dayna Ingram, came to Sydney from Clarence Town in the flood-prone Hunter Valley 10 years ago and volunteered for the NSW SES Hurstville Unit, where the Georges River has been known to spill well and truly over its banks. Now as Unit Commander of NSW SES Hurstville, running the administration and 98 personnel, she has found plenty of do.

 

Between January last year and the end of April this year, she was involved in 20 general operations, 25 storm preparations, 18 further operations involving the unit, two searches for missing person and three tasks where she provided relief for stranded communities in other parts of the state.

 

Over the last 10 years with the NSW SES, Dayna has held a variety of roles including Community Liaison Officer, where she worked with organisations such as the Lugarno Lions Club, Boy Scouts and Fire and Rescue NSW key community events. Through her leadership she has focused strongly on empowerment and accountability. This quality has been visible through her various role changes an everyone in the unit performs the roles assigned to them out of respect and admiration.

 

Balancing her family life and other interests, including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Dayna also coaches school soccer, and participates in events with St John Ambulance, in addition to her volunteer commitments to the NSW SES. 

 

Yasmin Jimmieson is a full-time university student and if the initiative and energy she has displayed in her extra-curricular activities are any guide, her formal studies must be a breeze. Yasmin is a member of NSW SES Armidale and Muswellbrook, where she had held a variety of roles including SES acting deputy unit commander, administration officer, training coordinator and Community Capability Officer across both units. She and has been deployed across the state to several communities affected by severe weather events.

 

Yasmin volunteers her time responding to emergency situations, organising, and instructing unit training, community engagement events, attending training courses, and mentoring. She aims to educate and support the community in many ways. Yasmin is also trained in assisting communities in their time of need as a General Land and Swift-Water Rescue trained operator. 

 

As part of her role as Community Capability Officer, Yasmin endeavours to create events that are fun and interactive for all members of the community whilst, finding new ways to spread the message of flood and storm preparation and preparedness. She volunteers with numerous youth organisations including Little Dreamers, Young Carer Organisation, One Door Mental Health on Fire Youth Program, and Beautiful Minds Youth Enrichment Program as a Team Leader.

 

As a registered young carer herself, she understands the struggles young people endure when it comes to caring for someone with a disability or mental health illness.

 

 

The Bees Nest Fire on the NSW north coast in August 2019 was ominous, foreshadowing the horror summer ahead for the state, but even then, though it caught the people of Coffs Harbour and its surrounds by surprise, it brought out some of the first volunteers who were to make their heroic stand. One of those was Hayden Tarran, a member of the NSW SES. Hayden has volunteered with the NSW SES for nine years and a volunteer bushfire fighter for four, who took time off work to go to the Bees Nest fire front and went on to receive a citation for his service during the fires.

 

As an NSW RFS member, Hayden assisted in western NSW during the Covid-19 outbreak, takes part in bush searches for missing people, Road Crash Rescue, Vertical Rescue, leading the team in some incidents, and goes much further, assisting in media coverage of SES operations and training to guide high school aged participants through Rotary leadership programs.

 

He is a regular photographer at national events, including those organised by the Australasian Road Recue Organisation. Hayden has also devoted himself to the environment, in particular a tree-planning project for a koala habitat in Dunbogan, on the north coast and even here spreads the message of what to do.

 

The Black Summer Bushfires of 2019/20 saw Jodie Carter, Captain of VRA at Wagga Wagga, assisting the RFS with the massive Dunns Road Fire that burnt out nearly 334,000 hectares, destroyed 186 homes and 27 business premises and killed thousands of stock, then went to the Bega Valley bushfires that destroyed 467 homes. She assisted the RFS and affected communities with door-knocking to evacuate local residents within that area, and providing logistical support to the RFS, supplying food and drink to frontline emergency service personnel on the fire ground. These efforts earned her the National Emergency Medal.

 

Then of course were the floods, where her unit had been active for years, including floods last year, where she not only performed a supervisory role but acted as a liaison role in the Emergency Operations Centre, supporting ground personnel and assisting in community information sessions.

 

A single mother of three boys, including twins and a disability support worker, Jodie logs all operational data for jobs, assists with training, working bees and first aid events, attends meetings, interagency training sessions and captains’ conferences. She also acts as member of the VRA Chaplain and Peer Support Team, checking on welfare of members and, if necessary, reaching out to members of other squads.

 

Joseph Difalco, a mere 81 years of age, has been assisting distressed people in the Snowy Mountains for the last 46 years. As captain of the Thredbo Volunteer Ski Patrol, part of VRA NSW, in addition to countless rescues he personally carried out, Joe up to 80 active volunteers and planning and overseeing training and arduous recertification procedures.

 

When Joe joined the Thredbo Ski Patrol (TSPA), its members were a small band of enthusiastic volunteers with basic first aid skills. As the sport of skiing grew, so did the need for rescue and first aid services. Through Joe 39 years of commitment and efforts, the TSPA grew in its size and capabilities to where it is today, providing world first life-saving services to thousands of injured skiers and snowboarders.

 

Joe was pivotal in overseeing advancements in first aid standards and protocols, and training, both practical and theoretical. The equipment which is now used has evolved through Joe’s constant forward-looking attitude. Joe successfully campaigned to facilitate the extension of bed numbers needed for a TSPA accommodation facility in the Koskiuszko National Park, which made the facility commercially viable. Joe then succeeded in getting resources for the building itself. Without this facility, the TSPA would not exist as it does today.

 

 

In the vast inland of Australia emergencies can come at any place and time and Anthony, based at Narromine in the central west, a Volunteer Rescue Service operator for the last 18 years’ is obviously up to them. Now a captain and senior training officer with his unit, he has been engaged in events such as the Wambalong fire in the Warrumbungle National Park near Coonabarabran in 2013, the Blue Mountains bushfires in 2019, and last year major floods at Eugowra and Dubbo.

 

In 2007, Anthony and another member of the VRA put their lives at risk to rescue a woman trapped in her car in rapidly rising floodwaters, for which the Royal Humane Society wrote a letter of Commendation. A communications technician by profession, Anthony helped restore the internet, television, phone and radio services throughout the western region in last year’s floods.

 

His skills in training have now secured him a position on the Western training team who now cover the entire western region, which involves a lot of after-hours work. Anthony also assists other community organisations with their fundraising efforts helping with such things as first aid, barbecue cooking and car parking, and is undergoing training as a bushfire fighter.

 

 

The 2019/20 bushfires swept through Bega Valley on the NSW south coast, they were devastating, destroying 467 homes and about 1,000 other buildings and killing four people. The emergency services came to the fore, not the least of which was the Bega Volunteer Rescue Squad, captained by Zac Willis. He took the lead at the height of the fires, working ceaselessly throughout New Years Eve 2019, and the following day.

 

During the crisis period, he helped protect the town of Cobargo, spent days clearing roads of fallen trees, helped clear and reopen the Princes Highway to allow evacuations, transported casualties from remote locations, took aid to affected areas and door-knocked for weeks on end to warn people of coming danger. The team he led was seen as thoroughly trained and professional.

 

Zac, who works for Bega Cheese and is a qualified electrician, has been doing rescues at Bega for more than seven years. He has always remained calm and collected, attending to multiple call-outs, and through his media work and contacts through membership of the local Emergency Management Committee, has kept the public fully appraised. The squad which was once struggling for membership now has 18 members with another two signing on.